North Chicago Schools Teetering On The Brink

March 22, 1993|By Jerry Thomas.

On blustery winter mornings, 13-year-old Justin Guzski and his pals wrap themselves in thick coats and slip on sneakers for the mile-long walk through snow and sleet to A.J. Katzenmaier Middle School in North Chicago. The school can't afford bus service for Guzski.

When Guzski and his friends arrive at the school, they learn from math books that are so old they are out of print. The school can only afford used books.

And just a few blocks away at the high school, many students sit on the floor or in window sills in classes where there are as many as 40 students and only 25 seats.

These are just a few of the images of a school system on the verge of bankruptcy, both in its morale and in its deficit-ridden budget.

It also is the jarring picture of a school system that on Monday night is expected to raise the white flag and surrender to its financial plight. The North Chicago District 187 School Board is likely going to vote to do what no other school system its size in Illinois has ever done-go out of business.

It is a decision that not only will affect the 4,300 students and 250 teachers of the North Chicago school system. If North Chicago dissolves and its students are dispersed to adjoining districts, up to 25,000 Lake County students and 1,500 teachers in all will see the effects.

The predominantly black student body could be sent to wealthier and predominantly white school districts like Lake Forest and Libertyville where they would have access to virtually everything deemed necessary for a well-rounded education.

In these neighboring districts, the classes are smaller and the supplies and equipment range from advanced to state-of-the-art. There is excellent bus service. There are intramural sports. There are nice science labs.

Lake County Schools Supt. Edward Gonwa is urging the North Chicago School Board to hang on, at least until the end of the school year in hopes a bailout will come from somewhere. A vote to dissolve, Gonwa warned, would be premature. The Lake County Regional Board of School Trustees would have to approve a North Chicago school board plan to dissolve.

But even if money is found, some believe the relief would be temporary unless the state corrects an "inequity" in how schools are funded.

Though North Chicago High School spends $5,016 a year per student, nearby Lake Forest High School spends nearly three times that much, $13,825. And while Lake Forest has nearly $1.2 million in equalized assessed valuation per pupil, North Chicago has only $23,709.

"That is the common denominator to judge any school district in terms of its material wealth," said Waukegan Supt. Alan Brown, who characterized North Chicago's figure as "chicken feed."

Most of North Chicago's neighboring districts have voiced opposition to having to absorb responsibility for District 187's students, as they are required to do under state law.

They say their schools, many of them located in booming upper middle-class enclaves, already are overcrowded and they fear their educational quality would erode.

School officials blame the district's financial problems, in large part, on the federal government. Nearly half of the district's students are dependents of military personnel stationed at the Great Lakes Naval Training Center, which pays no property taxes, the lifeblood of school funding. In lieu of taxes, the federal government provides "impact aid" payments, but those subsidies fall well short of tuition costs.

For almost a decade, the shortfall has forced the North Chicago School Board to cut. Even after reducing its staff to 360 from 437 over the last two years, the district still has a $1.5 million deficit this year. School officials say they can't cut any more and provide any kind of quality education to children.

"If we are a state, it is immoral (that) a child in one community could be getting less than one in another community," said Michael Penich, the prinicpal of Katzenmaier and a North Chicago alumnus. "It's not like this community is not making an effort above and beyond the call of duty."

School Board President Pamela Johnson said the students are sacrificing advancement.

"I see a bunch of talented kids, and we are not able to provide for them," Johnson said. "I am worried that they will not be able to compete with those who are being provided with the things they need to learn. It's a sad situation."

If a student is ill at the high school, for example, there is no full-time nurse there. There is no vocational arts class, no yearbook, no debate team and no marching band.

Principal Jimmy Dews, a lanky man who towers over students like a professional basketball player, said when people suggest cutting back more, he presents them with an analogy to North Chicago's situation.

"I think it's like going to the Kentucky Derby and you have a mule, and they have thoroughbreds," Dews said. "My philosophy as an educator is that we should prepare our students to compete in a global society. But I think it will take miracles to do that here."